Glossary

A system for approximating the velocity of flow of a river

A fault in which movement occurs along the strike of the fault plane and the crust is conserved

For glaciers, the amount of snow and ice lost in one year

The wearing away of rock by sediments moving with the water

For glaciers, the amount of snow and ice added in one year

A fan-shaped depositing of sediments create by an abrupt change, from steep to shallow, in a river’s profile

Silicates in which two oxygens in a tetrahedron bond with the silicon of an adjacent tetrahedron

Ions that have resulted from an atom gaining an electron or electrons and that are thus negatively charged

Streams that develop on beds that are then deformed and folded

The upward fold in a rock layer

Ridges where adjacent glacial valleys meet

Describing conditions in which insufficient rainfall leads to extremely dry conditions

In a planetary system, chunks of rock larger than meteoroids but smaller than a planet

The plates that float on Earth’s upper mantle

The gaseous “ocean” that surrounds Earth

The smallest part of an element that retains its physical and chemical properties

Arches of light in the upper atmosphere near the poles. Aurora Borealis at the north pole and aurora Australis at the south pole.

(n.) The rapid fall of material down a mountainside or cliff face; (v.) to tumble as an avalanche

Cyclic “wobble” in Earth’s axis of rotation

An angle less than 90° as defined within a quadrant with cardinal directions

In rock, a thick striped pattern of different mineral compositions

For glaciers, glacial motion as a block over lubricated bedrock

A depression in the Earth crust

The largest size of discordant intrusion

An angle between 0° and 360°

An outcrop consisting of multiple layers of sediments deposited in different environments

An unconformity created by a period of erosion followed by non-deposition 350 million to 2 million years ago

Rock derived from shell and skeleton fragments of biological organisms

All living organisms on Earth

The creating of hollow tubes in substrate by burrowing benthic animals

The largest particles of pyroclastic igneous rock

Of a stream, flowing in many channels simultaneously

Residual soils with a brownish B horizon

The covering of sediments by later sediment layers

Transformation of rock by pressure from rock layers deposited above

The basement rocks of the Precambrian age in Eastern Canada and the northeastern United States characterized by granitic igneous rocks and gneisses of igneous origin

For streams, the total amount of sediments a stream can carry*combine with previous definition in same location

Ions that have resulted from an atom giving up an electron or electrons and that are thus positively charged

The binding together of sediments by minerals to form rock

The bottom of a valley in which a stream flows

The interaction of two or more atoms of elements in a certain fixed ratio or proportion

Rock derived from mineral precipitate

Chemical reactions that break down rock when minerals come in contact with air and water

Soils with high carbonate concentration and a dark A horizon

A roughly circular basin with cone-shaped sides

The tendency for a mineral to break along planar surfaces

A property of sticking together due to electrostatic forces

The creation of rock of through removal of water by pressure

The measure of the largest size of rock particle a stream or glacier can carry

The relative proportions of the different types of minerals in a rock

Magmatic intrusions that follow cracks and natural zones of weakness in the surrounding country rock

Transformation of rock by the heat from adjacent magma

The less dense portion of Earth’s crust, with higher silicate content than oceanic crust

The movement of continents carried with plates of Earth’s crust

Slow-moving, thick sheets of ice covering a large part of a continent

An upward and downward cycle of movement caused by the flow of heat energy in a system

A region in which plates meet

A meeting of plates where plates move toward each other

The unmelted rock into which magma is intruded

The sharing of electrons between atoms

The very slow movement of unconsolidated material down a slope

A sedimentary structure created by migrating ripples or dunes

The thin outer portion of Earth consisting of solid rock

Permafrost soils

The geometric description of the overall shape of a completely developed mineral

A stream path across adjacent cutbanks

The banks on the outside curves of a meander

A logical process that goes from the general to the specific

Time in the order of millions to billions of years

A change in dimension of a solid material

A branching waterflow pattern

The coming to rest of sediments in their environments

The physical and chemical changes in sediment resulting in lithification

The separation of one material into separate constituent materials, as in the division of Earth into separate layers

A concordant intrusion created when magma solidifies in a crack that cuts across the layers in the host rock

A measurement of the tilt to the horizontal of bedding planes, fault planes, and fold axes of rock

Faults in which movement occurs along the dip of the planar crack

Magmatic intrusions that do not follow the prevailing geology of the country rock

Margins at which plates move away from each other on either side

A shaping of the Earth crust like an inverted bowl

Silicates in which two oxygens in a tetrahedron bond with the silicon of an adjacent tetrahedron

Material of glacial origin

Large, streamlined hills of till and bedrock

Wide structures formed by sediments transported at the base of flowing water or wind

Negatively charged particles that orbit an atom’s nucleus and that take part in atomic reactions

Prominent glacial deposit at the ice front

The process that removes newly created sediments

Landforms created by the scarping and plucking action of glacial ice as it is created and moves downslope

Large boulders deposited by glaciers

A ridge of sand and gravel in a ground moraine

The exposure of rock by the removal of other strips from its surface

Those that form from magma that erupts at the surface as lava

Rock created from fragments along a fault

Planar cracks in deformed rock along which movement occurs

The pattern by which species of animals (fauna) and plants (flora) come after each other in evolutionary history

Silicates with few cation bonds

Of igneous rock, that are rich in feldspars and quartz

Rocks rich in feldspars and quartz minerals

Granular ice with low air content

Flooded post-glacial steep U-shaped valleys

The flat part of the valley immediately adjacent to the channel

The fluid movement of matter

A shaping of rock layers with an axis between limbs

The realignment of platy minerals such that their long axes is perpendicular to the direction of compressive force

Layers of split rock beneath the plane in a fault

Grouping of fossils in the rock record

The tendency for a mineral to break along irregular surfaces

Silicates with few cation bonds

The process by which water entering zones of weakness in rock freezes, opening up a larger crack

A glacier that moves at up to 50 metres per day

A diagram that shows the rock succession (rock record) as if we were indeed able to cut a slice through the crust

Large masses of ice on land that are in motion or that show evidence of once having moved

A three-dimensional array of elements with a chaotic pattern

Soils with greyish or mottled A, B, or C horizons due to prolonged or intermittent lack of aeration

A canyon or steep-walled valley cut by a stream through a mountainous region

A depression caused by a series of normal faults resulting in a rift valley

An order of layering of sedimentary rocked associated with a fluvial environment

Fine to coarse grains of interlocking crystals with little or no foliation

The result of a period of erosion then non-deposition ~800 million to ~600 million years ago

Unsorted sediment deposited at the base of the glacier

In porphyritic igneous rock, minerals surrounding phenocrysts

The beginnings of stream channels in a rock indentation

The time taken for half the parent atoms to decay into daughter atoms

A tributary valley with a floor above that of the valley its waters empty into

Layers of split rock above the plane in a fault

A measure of how resistant a mineral is to being scratched

Erosion of rock creating gullies that seem to migrate upstream in the headwaters

The top zone of a soil profile, consisting of the humus layer, quartz, and clays

The middle zone of a soil profile where soluble minerals are oxidized and deposited

The zone in a soil profile dominated by bedrock altered by weathering

Is the zone in a soil profile dominated by unaltered/unweathered bedrock

The zones of a soil profile, defined by their contents

A pointed peak of a mountain created by adjacent cirques

A raised section of rock between normal faults

The rising of superheated magma from the mantle–core boundary as a jet or plume

An organic rich soil layer

A chemical reaction of a substance with water

The water of Earth, in all its phases: solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (water vapour)

A tentative explanation based inductive reasoning from empirical evidence

Polar ice masses

Deposits of till left directly by retreating glaciers

Rocks formed by the crystallization or solidification of magma or lava

A logical process that uses a specific observation to make a generalization

The portion of Earth’s core 5150–6370 km deep

Of igneous rock, with equal amounts of felsic and mafic minerals

Those that form from magma that cools and solidifies within Earth’s crust

A transfer of electrons from one atom to another

An atom or molecule that has gained or lost an electron or electrons

A silicate structure in which a silicate anion is separated from an adjacent anion by a cation

Atoms of an element with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons

Planar cracks with similar and/or related orientations

Small hills of sand and gravel deposited at or near the edge of a glacier

Kettles occupied by water

Depressions formed when ice left by glaciers melts beneath sediments

The following of smooth and generally parallel paths by fluid particles

Glacial sedimentary deposits parallel to glacier flow

The steep concave side of a bedload sediment formation

The concave, downstream-facing profile of ripples and dunes

A fault characterized by movement of the layers on one side of the plane to the left

Raised lines of deposited sediment constraining a stream to a channel

Transformation of sediments into rock

The crust of Earth

A description of how the surface of a mineral reflects light

Clay-dominant soils with a light A horizon and dark B horizons

Of igneous rock, that are rich in magnesium and iron cations

Rock rich in metallic cations of magnesium and iron

That portion of Earth between the core and crust that consists of semi-molten rock

Processes that cause the movement of soil and rock downslope

Alternating bends in a stream channel

Merged lateral moraines from adjacent glaciers

Categories of rock that correspond to particular environments during which they were transformed into their current state

Rocks formed from existing rocks in Earth’s crust

Transformation of rock by the exchange of superheated water between the rock and magmatic intrusions

Meteoroids that reach the surface of Earth

Particles of rock in a solar system that are not accreted into larger bodies

Meteoroids that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere

Silicates in which three oxygens bond with the silicon of an adjacent tetrahedron

A naturally occurring solid, inorganic, three-dimensional array of specific chemical composition with an ordered crystalline structure

A range from 1 to 10 defining the relative degree to which a mineral resists being scratched

Accumulations of coarse rock, sand, and clay material carried by ice or deposited as till

The physical shape of a rock or landform due to large-scale processes that were incident on it

A near-vertical tube that forms in a glacier

A texture of rock in which minerals are almost pulverized

A loose, slowly rotating amalgam of cosmic dust and gas

Noncharged particles in an atom’s nucleus

A fault in which the crust is extended

The central, high-density portion of an atom consisting of protons and neutrons

A fault characterized by movement of rock layers on opposite sides of the fault plan diagonal to each other

The denser, more metallic portion of Earth’s crust with lower silicate content than continental crust

Silicates in which oxygens of adjacent tetrahedra bond to a shared cation

Categories of soil taxonomy

Soils of 30% or more organic matter

The process of mountain building through plate collisions

That portion of rock exposed at the surface of Earth

The inner portion of Earth, consisting of molten iron alloy

Drift that has been carried, modified, sorted, and distributed by meltwater streams

A cut-off meander containing water

The reaction of minerals with oxygen from air or water, altering the mineral structure

Minerals with an oxygen anion

In porphyritic igneous rock, a relatively larger mineral surrounded by relatively smaller minerals

The sweeping up of debris in the orbital path of planetesimals

Small spherical astronomical bodies of accreted rock

For glaciers, glacial motion by of individual ice crystals’ passing each other

The process of movement of segments of Earth’s crust on the mantle resulting in several geologic phenomena

The dip of a fold axis in the Earth crust along the axial plan

Intrusive igneous rocks

Formations of intrusive igneous rock

Soils with a grey layer near the top and with humus containing iron and aluminum oxide

The banks on the inside curves of a meander

The hollow spaces in between grains that are occupied by water, air, or a combination of both

A measurement of the hollow spaces in between grains that are occupied by water, air, or a combination of both

A course-grained texture with different mineral sizes in intrusive igneous rock

Lyell’s concept that abrupt interruptions in lateral continuity reflect events that occur after sediments were deposited and lithified

Steno’s concept that sediment layers become thinner the farther the sediments have been carried and that changes in topography can stop the formation of a sediment layer

Steno’s concept that sediments, with few exceptions, are laid horizontally, such that most nonhorizontal layers have moved after deposition

Steno’s concept that each rock layer in a formation is older than the layer above it

Positively charged particles in an atom’s nucleus

Rock solidified from airborne lava

Silicates in which one oxygen in a tetrahedron bonds with the silicon of an adjacent tetrahedron

Solid silica with no cation bonds

A radial waterflow pattern away from the peak of a dome or volcano

A rectangular waterflow pattern on jointed bedrock

The transformation of rock over a large area in the crust, usually under mountain belts

Soils with poorly developed profiles featuring slightly altered parent rock

Soils that evolve in one place

A depression in Earth’s crust created by the separation of continental plates

Faults characterized by movement of the layers on one side of the plane to the right

Narrow structures formed by sediments transported at the base of flowing water or wind

The major branch of a stream system

Small glacier-created bedrock hills; also called “sheep rocks”

Naturally occurring aggregate of minerals

Rocks that were laid down in a specific sequence, indicating a specific sequence of geologic processes acting in specific depositional environments

The creation and breaking down of rock in Earth’s crust and their interrelation

Finely powdered rock material produced by weathering that occurs during glacial erosion

Currently existing rock, considered as reflecting the processes that originated it and the environments in which it formed

The smoothing of rock particles

The repeated carrying and deposition of sediments by a stream

In rock, coarse layering of different mineral compositions

The system of employing critical thought to investigate natural phenomena

Rocks formed from sediments

Smaller pieces of rock created by the weathering of existing rock

The order of layering in sedimentary rock

Silicates in which three oxygens bond with the silicon of an adjacent tetrahedron

Transformation of rock by meteorite impact

The 23-hour, 56-minute, 4.091-second Earth day

SiO2

Minerals with a silicate anion

Of sediments, consisting mainly of silicates of igneous origin

Rock derived from weathered igneous rock

A concordant intrusion created when magma solidifies along bedding directions

Silicates in which one oxygen in a tetrahedron bonds with the silicon of an adjacent tetrahedron

Weak foliation produced by low compressive forces

Movement of matter along a shear plane parallel to a slope

The 24-hour Earth day

Soils with significant salt accumulations

The large-scale fissure in the Earth’s crust separating divergent plates

The smallest size of discordant intrusion

The shallowly sloped convex side of a bedload sediment formation

Layering in sedimentary rock

A rock layer; pl., strata

The colour of the powdered form of a mineral

The amount of water that passes through a particular cross-sectional area of a stream per unit of time

Flowing bodies of water

Grooves in rock created by glaciers dragging rock over it

A measurement of the compass orientation of bedding planes, fault planes, and fold axes of rock

The riding up of a less dense plate over a denser plate, which is then pushed into the mantle and eventually recycled

Continents consisting of all land on Earth connected, leaving one massive ocean

Streams that develop on beds over folded rock

The downward fold in a rock layer

Glacial deposit at the farthest point reached by an ice front

Flat elevated plains on either side of the stream’s channel and floodplain

A visual description of the size of the minerals in the rock

A hypothesis that has become widely accepted

A reverse fault in which the fault plane has a dip of less than 45°

Unstratified, poorly sorted glacial deposit]

A meeting of plates that move parallel to each other

A meeting of plates at which the plates slide past each other

For soils, processes changing materials from one form to another

For soils, processes causing materials to move from one zone to another within the soil.

For ice, the quantity of particles of rock that it can carry

Movement of sediments, especially by wind, water, or ice

Soils that are eroded from slopes and carried downhill

A waterflow pattern of parallel trunks and tributaries

The following of irregular and overlapping paths by fluid particles

A glacier-formed valley with steep sides and a wide base

Of igneous rock, consisting of very little feldspars, no quartz, and considerable magnesium and iron

Erosive surfaces with younger rocks deposited on top

The principle stating that Earth processes unfolding today unfolded in the same way and at the same rate in the past

The sloping areas around a stream

River-like glaciers formed in mountain ranges

A pair of sediment layers formed by one year’s seasonal lake-surface freezing and thawing

A concordant intrusion created when magma solidifies in cracks that are irregular and localized

Clay-rich soils with high shrink potential when dry and high swell potential when wet

The smallest particles of pyroclastic igneous rock

A volcano formed in water that is visible above sea level

A series of volcanic islands parallel to a convergence boundary

Extrusive igneous rocks

Glacial meltwater outwash deposits

The process that breaks down rock at the surface of Earth

The convex, upstream-facing profile of ripples and dunes